My Most Unknown Books of 2023

Who can believe that it’s the last day of 2023? I had a pretty good reading year and found some new favourites. Here, I want to shout out some books I gave a rating of 4 stars or more and that have less than 10.000 ratings on Goodreads. I do not mention all of them, but only those I think should get a shout out. At the end of the post you find some German books as well.

Hellion
Did a re-read of Karen Lynch‘s sixth book in the Relentless series. It’s my go-to when I feel down. Can’t recommend it enough.

The Double Trouble Society
I really like Carrie Hope Fletcher‘s children’s books. Lots of magic, friendship and mystery.

The Double Trouble Society and the Worst Curse
I also read the second book about Maggie and Ivy by Carrie Hope Fletcher. It was even more magical than the first one.

de Vincent Trilogy
I read the de Vincent trilogy by one of my favourite authors, Jennifer L. Armentrout, this year for the first time and it was so good! Moonlight Sins has more than 11.000 ratings, but Moonlight Seduction and Moonlight Scandals don’t. Loved the trilogy.

Space Band
Tom Fletcher wrote another nice children’s book. I did not enjoy it as much as his other books, but it was nice.

My Most Unknown German Books of 2023

Rassismus geht uns alle an
Ein wirklich guter und kurzer Ratgeber von Josephine Apraku, Jule Bönkost und Meikey To zum Thema Rassismus. Das Thema wird leicht verständlich aufgearbeitet und ist somit gut zugänglich.

Zerschlagt das Schulsystem und baut es neu!
Alexia Weiss hat eine Streitschrift zum österreichischen Schulsystem verfasst. Sie zeigt auf, was man alles verbessern könnte und ist dabei sehr divers und inklusiv.

Gib mir mal die Hautfarbe. Mit Kindern über Rassismus sprechen
Ein weiteres Antirassismus-Buch von Olaolu Fajembola und Tebogo Nimindé-Dundadengar, dass ich gelesen habe. Kann ich sehr stark empfehlen. Neben einer Aufarbeitung zum Thema gibt es auch Übungen und Reflexionsaufgaben.

Morgen mach ich bessere Fehler
Petra Hülsmann hat endlich ein neues Buch herausgebracht. Ich habe es verschlungen und liebe es!

I read lots of educational books this year and I can highly recommend all of them! Feel free to check out some of the books. I wish you all an amazing new year and wonderful reads in 2024! ♥

The Double Trouble Society and the Worst Curse (The Double Trouble Society 2)

The Double Trouble Society and the Worst Curse by Carrie Hope Fletcher is the second book of The Double Trouble Society series. After Ivy and Maggie helped saving Crowood Peak from a murderous witch, peace and calm settled over the town. But the witches Emerald and Amethyst feel something demonic and new students arrive at school that don’t seem totally human. A new adventure awaits the Double Trouble Society.

This is such a wonderful autumn read. It even included my favourite fantasy creatures: vampires and werewolves (even though I LOVE fae as well, but more in NA and adult books). The book was lovely to read. The Double Trouble Society has such an amazing bond. All members are such different personalities, but they stick together no matter what. However, Ivy annoyed me in this book. She was quite mean in this one. I didn’t picture her as such. But apart from that I enjoyed the read.

The second book included more fantasy creatures, which I loved. It’s quite an autumnal read and perfect for rainy days.

My Rating: ☼☼☼☼

Other books in this series:

• The Double Trouble Society

Other books by the author:

• On the Other Side
• Winter’s Snow
• All That She Can See
• When The Curtain Falls
• In the Time We Lost
• Into the Spotlight
• With this Kiss

The Double Trouble Society (The Double Trouble Society 1)

The Double Trouble Society by Carrie Hope Fletcher is about Ivy and Maggie, two best friends who try to solve the mystery of Hokum House. When the house between their houses starts to change and a woman that looks suspiciously like a witch turns up, both girls try to investigate. Their curiosity soon turns into a big adventure that is not easy to solve on their own.

This book started really slow for me. I couldn’t get into the story and did not find the characters very lovable. And I was a bit scared that this book would turn out with a creepy story as I don’t like those (even when they are meant for kids). However, the book soon turned around and I couldn’t put it aside. I loved the bond that Ivy and Maggie have. They are both two totally different personalities, but both strengths and weaknesses are needed to solve the mystery of Hokum House. This book felt really empowering. Amethyst was one of my favourite characters. I can’t tell why as it might spoiler some of the plot, but I adored her.

I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait for the sequel! This book would have been a perfect autumn read, but it was quite suitable for my vacation at the beach as well. Can’t wait to read more about Ivy and Maggie.

My Rating: ☼☼☼☼

Other books by the author:

• On the Other Side
• Winter’s Snow
• All That She Can See
• When The Curtain Falls
• In the Time We Lost
• Into the Spotlight
• With this Kiss

My Most Unknown Books of 2022

Wuhuuu! Another year’s over and many books were read. I did not have the best reading year, therefore there are not as many books in this list. I only list books I gave a rating of 4 stars or more and that have less than 10.000 ratings on Goodreads. I do not mention all of them, but only those I think should get a shout out. At the end of the post you find some German books as well.

With This Kiss
Carrie Hope Fletcher wrote yet another book that I enjoyed. A really nice book idea and the cover is just beautiful!

A Wicked Trilogy
I did a re-read of the spin-off of the Wicked Trilogy (The Prince, The King, The Queen). I love Jennifer L. Armentrout‘s books with all my heart.

Queen
Karen Lynch published the last book in the Fae Games trilogy at the beginning of this year. It was not as good as the previous books in this series, but it was good no the less. I also read Pawn and Knight again. Karen Lynch is one of my favourite authors!

My Most Unknown German Books of 2022

Was ist eigentlich dieses LGBTIQ*?
Linda Becker, Julian Wenzel und Birgit Jansen haben diesen wunderbaren Ratgeber herausgebracht. Kann ihn sehr weiterempfehlen!

Herz aus Schatten
Laura Kneidl‘s Bücher sind auch immer ein Hit! Habe dieses Buch sehr gerne gelesen und das Cover ist wahnsinnig schön!

Feel free to check out some of the books. I can highly recommend all of them! Lets have another amazing year full of wonderful books! Wish you all a wonderful year 2023! ♥

With this Kiss

With this Kiss is a book by Carrie Hope Fletcher. Lorelai can see how people are going to die when she kisses them. She swore to herself to never kiss someone again, but then she meets Grayson and her promise is harder to hold. Can she give in and kiss him and live with the knowledge of how is going to die? Or is it best to keep to herself and not get closer to him?

When I first heard of this book I was really intrigued. This is the first book by Carrie Hope Fletcher where I read the blurb and was like “YES! I would really love to read that”. Don’t get me wrong, I liked her other books as well, but this one seemed right up my street. The cover of this book is so beautiful! I never liked the magical realism elements in her books, but I liked it in this one. Kissing someone and then seeing how this person dies must be cruel. No wonder that Lorelai swore to never kiss someone again after experiencing that. I did not like Lorelai so much. She blamed every bad decision she made on her power and always pushed people away that tried to help and love her. Joanie was an amazing friend! She did everything to help Lorelai, but also pushed her out of her comfort zone. Grayson was a sweetheart as well. He is very supportive and doesn’t force Lorelai to do anything she doesn’t want to. He is a really nice guy. Getting back to the story, some parts very really dragging and I caught myself skipping sentences, which I only do if I am not enjoying the story. Other parts were really nice.

Overall, this was an okay book. There were some ups and downs, but I enjoyed reading it.

My Rating: ☼☼☼☼

Other books from the author:

• On the Other Side
• Winter’s Snow
• All That She Can See
• When The Curtain Falls
• In the Time We Lost
• Into the Spotlight

Into the Spotlight

Into the Spotlight by Carrie Hope Fletcher is a really nice children’s book. Inspired by Ballet Shoes, the three Pebble siblings, Marigold, Mabel and Morris, live an extraordinary life in the Pebble Theatre. When the theatre is in danger, they need to come up with a plan to save it. Their plan is to use their strengths and put on the most amazing show London has ever seen.

I really do like Fletcher’s story ideas. However, usually I am a bit taken aback by the magical realism she uses. But this book was different! First of all, it is a children’s book. And a cute one. I remember watching the film Ballet Shoes when I was little, but I do not remember much. But I can see how Fletcher wove the story of the Fossil sisters into the story of the Pebble sisters. And also, no magical realism was used in this book.

The story was cute. It took me awhile to get into it, but as soon as the Pebbles found the hidden journal, the plot picked up and I enjoyed it more and more. All three children are so unique, and they make you believe that you can do anything you want to do when you believe in yourself. I am sure kids will love this book. All the characters in the book bring the story alive. And the cover is beautiful as well!

All in all, I enjoyed the read. It is a nice children’s book that makes everyone believe in themselves.

My Rating: ☼☼☼☼

Other books by the author:

• On the Other Side
• Winter’s Snow
• All That She Can See
• When the Curtain Falls
• In the Time We Lost

In the Time We Lost

In the Time We Lost by Carrie Hope Fletcher is a fairytale story. Luna has gone through a lot throughout her life. This is the reason why she is moving to Ondingside, a small town where no one knows her and she can start anew. When a July snowstorm hits the town on her first day, everything is frozen in time.

First, I want to comment on the cover. It looks so beautiful. It represents the story quite well. However, I can’t not see the similarity to Frozen. Not only on the cover but in the story as well. Luna is very much described as Elsa and when you look at how she is portrait on the cover, you can see the similarities as well (the braided hair). Then Ondingside reminded me of Arendelle as it was snowed in and cut off from the world. The book just reminded me of Frozen in some aspects. But this does not make the book a bad book! It is nice to see that the author puts her own interests and beliefs in the book.

The story was nice to read. At first, when the first day happened over and over again, I was so confused because I totally forgot what the book was about. After reading the blurb again, I was reminded of the plot. It made much more sense afterwards. However, to be honest, I did not really like this concept. But it was nice to see that even if you can’t remember the last day, your instincts still tell you that something changed. I liked that the you could see how Luna changed in the course of a few days. Sadly, I did not connect with the characters that well. I love Wendy!

The ending of the book was very different to what I expected! I am unsure if I like it or not. I like it that it is something different to a usual ending to a novel, but it was quite sad. I quite enjoyed the book, but I expected something different.

My Rating: ☼☼☼

When The Curtain Falls

When The Curtain Falls by Carrie Hope Fletcher is a totally different book to her others. Olive Green and Oscar Bright are the new production of When The Curtain Falls. They fall madly in love, but something is going on in theater that seems supernatural. What they do not know, ghosts haunt this theater as the young actress Fawn Burrows was shot on stage during the first production of When the Curtain Falls seventy years before. As the cover says: ” When the curtain falls … the real drama begins”.

I was curious about this book, because I had read a lot of negative reviews about it. I was not expecting a masterpiece here and to be honest it wasn’t. But I really enjoyed this book. I am not fond of ghost stories and do not really like this magic realism in her books, but in this book, everything turned out well. Sometimes this book feels like a diary or a memoir of Ms. Fletcher’s life. As I follow her on social media, I get an inside into her life and beginning from the choice of clothing or views on topic, I could see a lot of Ms. Fletcher in Olive. Olive is a strong, talented and determined young woman. I like her character. To be honest, I did not like Oscar that much. Even though it seems like he loves Olive with all his heart, he is just oblivious to so many things. The characters from the past production of When The Curtain Falls are also very interesting. I enjoyed reading from their perspective. Walter is a sweet guy, young and old. All in all, I liked how the characters are written.

The end of the book made me tear up. It was sad but at the same time a wonderful happy end. I enjoyed the book a lot more than I thought I would. The cover is beautiful as always. Well done.

My Rating: ☼☼☼☼

Other books from this author:

• On The Other Side
• Winters’ Snow
• All That She Can See

All That She Can See

Carrie Hope Fletcher showed us again what an amazing mind she has, just like in her other book On the Other Side. In All That She Can See she turned such a realistic thing of our everyday life into something magical. The book is about Cherry Redgrave, who is a baker, but she is not a normal baker, she has a gift. As a baker, she starts to help people and travels around the UK and opens several bakeries. In one city, she meets Chase and discovers that he has a gift as well and both start a kind of turf war.

Winter’s Snow

Carrie Hope Fletchers novella Winter’s Snow of On the Other Side tells us the After Life story of Vincent Winter, Evie Snow’s love of her life.

Winter’s Snow is a really short novella, so the plot happened very fast, but I loved every bit of it. Reading Vincent’s attempt to reach the After Life and finally see Evie again is very well written. I just can’t get over the fact that Carrie writes in such a beautiful and magical way. I fell in love with her writing. Reading it sounds like magic!

It was really lovely to hear from other people we got to meet in On the Other Side again. Some of them deserve far more back information than we have now.

Reading this short book was a really lovely thing and I am happy I managed to do it before my exams. It filled me with a lot more spirit.

My Rating: ☼☼☼☼☼